Tropical Storm, once Hurricane, Irene is on its way out. Earlier in the week, it was a category 2 hurricane. Storms like that are well-respected in New England, no matter how much video footage you see of people surfing when storms are approaching. Everyone in the New England affected area planned. New York City planned, as did the states of New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina.

Unfortunately, the further north the hurricane traveled, it seemed, the weaker it got. It hit NYC as a tropical storm. Then the pundits started. You saw posts indicating the poster survived several category n (where n is bigger than Irene) hurricanes down here in <insert your favorite state here> . What’s with all these people who indicate we’re Irene sissies, anyway? Is this the same group that walked to school both ways uphill when they were children?

Well, here’s how it is. Each of the states affected by Hurricane Irene has different problems when weather like this happens. New York City might be more like the coast around Boston, when speaking of tidal surges. The islands off North Carolina present their own problems during bad weather. New Jersey closed certain areas due to their unique problems. And, Maryland and Virginia planned according to their special circumstances, coastline, estuaries, and so on, as well as general damage that could and would occur. In short, it appears to me everyone did their job well. Other than the governor of The Commonwealth of Massachusetts wanting everyone off the roads at noon Saturday August 27th, I did not see much overkill, except in the media.

So if people not in Irene’s path think we’re idiots, I probably can’t change your minds. To sum it all up, we planned; the weather forecasters did a pretty good job; it wasn’t as bad as they said; and we are all grateful the results were not worse than they were.

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One response to “Hurricane Irene: So, Make Fun of Us Already”

Sadly, people like to bitch, especially morons. Preparedness doesn’t make you a sissy, it makes you smart. Sure, preparedness can go to far if it becomes an obsession, but with a natural disaster coming at you, it’s definitely not unwarranted.

The sort of people, from the more southward states, who see a Category 5 coming and pop open a beer are stupid, not brave. Which returns to my original point: People like to bitch, especially morons. Ignore them and maybe they’ll go – or get blown – away.